Book description
Hellspark: A Cosmic Comedy of Errors
Janet Kagan's "Hellspark" deserves a medal for sheer audacity-if not for actually delivering on its promises. Here's a Hugo Award winner that treats interstellar murder mystery like a particularly confused travelogue, and somehow makes it work despite itself.
Our protagonist Tocohl stumbles into this galactic mess quite literally, which is apparently the author's idea of character development. She wanted a vacation, got attacked, rescued someone, faced a judge, and now she's off to solve murders on Lassti. It's the universe's most convoluted job application process. One wonders if Kagan's research methods involved dropping her main character into increasingly absurd situations until something stuck.
The real tragedy here isn't the physicist's death-it's the Sprookjes, those birdlike natives who exist in the story primarily to be inconveniently intelligent. Their presence threatens to derail corporate development plans, which apparently makes them less important than quarterly profit margins. How refreshingly dystopian of Kagan to suggest that native rights are just another plot device.
What saves this audiobook from complete disaster is Kagan's apparent decision to treat her own premise with healthy skepticism. The political intrigue unfolds with all the subtlety of a spacesuit malfunction, but there's something almost charming about a murder mystery where nobody seems particularly motivated to solve it. Everyone's just winging it, which makes Tocohl's bumbling detective work feel less like incompetence and more like method acting.
The audiobook format actually works in Kagan's favor here-the confusion becomes infectious rather than exhausting. You can almost hear the narrator's exasperation through the increasingly ridiculous plot twists.
"Hellspark" succeeds not because it's a masterclass in science fiction mystery, but because it's honest about being a masterclass in barely controlled chaos. Sometimes that's enough.
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Playing a wide variety of audio formats
Works on all devices with iOS 13 and newer
Huge amount of features for a small price
Frequent updates to add new features and improve existing ones
Advanced playback controls
Live sound processing
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice and noise reduction
Translated into more than 20 languages
If you love listening to fiction audiobooks, ListenBook has features to make the process easier.
Edit book data: title, author, cover
Use equalizer to make the sound comfortable for you
Adjust the playback speed
Enjoy dark and light app themes
Supported formats: MP3, M4B, AWB, FLAC, OGG audio files and many more (must be DRM free)
Auto-Bookmarks make it easy to find your place
AirPlay support allows redirection of audio output.
VoiceOver support
Dark mode for night owls
Convenient bookmarking system helps you mark the most important places.
Unlimited bookmarks for each audiobook
Put your own cover on the wager
Share your audiobook with friends
Lock-screen control
Customise app with extensive options
Sleep timer with shake to reset, set custom notification sounds, and a few unique options
Auto rewind depending on paused time, customize rewind times to your liking
Removing background noise from recordings made in classrooms and meetings
Changing the timbre of the reader's voice for a better listening experience